TCRC

14

Besides offering a wide assortment of good eats Tainan is also known as the Kyoto of Taiwan because of its cultural history. Tainan is the oldest city in Taiwan and was the capital of the country until 1887 when it was moved to Taipei. We explored a few of the cultural locales in the city even though it was really hot and we had to stop every fifteen minutes to enjoy a cold beverage.

A tasty beverage on a bike.

Our first stop in Tainan was the Confucian Temple. Built in 1665 as a site for worship and scholarly teachings it is the oldest Confucian Temple in the entire country. There were some typical Chinese-influenced architectural details, but nothing that I found particularly spectacular. I probably wouldn’t go again and certainly wouldn’t pay the less than $1 USD that I paid to enter the temple. I’ll use that for a bubble tea next time; it’s much more rewarding and refreshing.

The oldest Confucian temple in Taiwan. Not very exciting.

Write down your deepest darkest desires on a piece of paper and post it here for the world to see!

Chinese stuff

Gaudy temple details

Any cultural tour of Tainan would not be complete without a visit to one or two of the many Buddhist or Taoist temples in the city. It would be hard to miss them since Tainan has the most temples of any city in Taiwan. We happened to arrive at a temple just as a parade was starting. It’s like a Japanese matsuri where they carry a giant, wooden divine palanquin and heave it up and down while chanting. The Taiwanese do the same thing, but they decided to put the palanquin on wheels since that shit is heavy and it really gets too hot to carry that thing around in the summer.